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Thursday, May 8, 2014

If I only had words to express to you my feelings this week... I´ll do my best.

How the time has flown by. It seems like yesterday I hugged you all goodbye. Hard to believe that next week I´ll be on a plane coming home to you. this will be my last email to you as a missionary, next week we won´t have time to enter into email. My heart has been overwhelmed and grateful to be able to share my thoughts and feelings with you this week.

This week was so incredibly special for me. Last week was so rough, but this week was everything that I needed. Heavenly Father answered my prayers so clearly, so tenderly and lovingly. How grateful I am. Monday after we emailed we went to lunch with José and his family. We had a great time, chatting and laughing. Graça is a hoot and keeps us all clutching our stomachs with so much laughter. After we ate, and shared a message, they told us to wait a moment becuase they had something to give us. José sat down and started to tell us taht he had finally made the decision. That finally his time had come and how grateful he was to Heavenly Father, to his family, and to us. Graça told us that we had entered into their lives at exactly the right moment, as two angels from Heavenly Father who brought renewed hope and faith in José, who encouraged them to not give up, who brought the spirit, who were obedient tools in the Lord´s hands to answer the prayers of their family. Everyone was full of emotion and the sweetest spirit accompanied us there. Then José gave us each an invite to his baptism, signed by him, with the date May 01, 2014. Thursday night. They told me they´d changed the date because they wanted this to be my last present before I went home. And we were the first ones to be told the big news. I don´t know how to explain the deep feelings I had in that moment. I felt so incredibly grateful and honored to have taken part in such a miraculous story and felt their gratitude and love for me and felt the love and approval of the Lord as well. My heart was filled with perhaps the greatest happiness I have felt throughout my whole mission. That family blessed me and helped me in ways they will never know, and to feel that same love radiating from them touched me so deeply. They are already well into their plans to be sealed as a family next year, and I plan to be here for it. They truly have entered into my heart as a second family, in a period of my mission that was so trying and so often so difficult, they gave me hope and happiness each day. They loved me in a way that helped me to feel how much Heavenly Father too loves me. On Thursday night he was baptized. Yesterday he was confirmed and received the priesthood. I am so deeply grateful for the privelege the Lord gave me to be able to know this family and to help them on their way to the temple. It was absolutely the most wonderful present of my whole mission. the peace that I felt that day was indescribable.

I had the wonderful opportunity also this week to work with Sister Lima for the last time. It was incredible. We taught and taught and taught the whole day and the spirit was perfect. At the end of the day she turned to me and said, "Com dias como hoje, Bem poderíamos fazer isso para sempre." "With days like today, we could easily do this forever." Yes, yes we could. It was perfect. This work is perfect.

So many experiences this week, so many answers to my prayers. And the sweetest peace confirming to me many time this week that the Lord has accepted my work. How grateful I am for this feeling. Weaknesses, I have many, but I know that through the atonement, the Savior has helped me to correct and overcome many shortcomings and has helped me day after day to serve the Lord. And looking back, to recognize the moments in where the Lord has been able to use me as a servant in His hands to bless the lives of others, I feel the greatest joy.

I thank you with all my heart for your endless support. I want you to know that your prayers on my behalf have been answered and felt each day. I have reflected this week on how blessed I have been to have been so well prepared by such incredible parents, and how your support and love through my mission has blessed and helped me tremendously. I love you. So so so much. Words can´t thank you enough. But I pray Heavenly Father helps you to feel my eternal gratitude.

I´m excited for this next week. Miracles await us. Hard goodbyes will come. But I know that this is the next step. The mission has changed my life in a way that even I can hardly compreend. It has changed my heart entirely. I wouldn´t trade this time for anything in the world. Thank you for helping me to get here. I thank Heavenly Father each day for this sacred privelege, that has truly molded me and blessed me so much. I love this people. There are so many people here who the Lord placed in my path that truly changed my life. That have entered into and will stay in my heart forever. As we serve, we find true happiness. As we love others, we feel the love of our Heavenly Father. His love is eternal and perfect. This work is eternal. I love this gospel with all my heart. I have never felt such greater joy and seen so many miracles. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true. His church is on the earth. Joseph Smith was called of God as a prophet, and President Monson is the Lord´s prophet today. The atonement of Jesus Christ is for everyone. His sacrifice is eternal. How grateful I am to know these precious truths. How grateful I am to knwo that because of all of this, families are eternal. I love you.

Until next wednesday......

Sending all my love and prayers and so much gratitude your way, for the last time from Brasil,